Ahead of the local elections in May, hypochondriac Sadiq Khan was out warning that Covid fears would keep “elderly and ethnic minorities from polling stations”, arguing postal voting forms should be sent to every household to ensure no turnout upsets. Angela Rayner also accused the government of undermining democracy and public health by failing to encourage postal voting:

“The government has had nearly a year to sort this out and protect our democracy, but ministers have once again been too slow to act.

“With ten weeks to go, we are yet to see a proper plan from the government setting out how these elections will be run safely, while councils face shortages of electoral staff, lack of venues, and funding uncertainty.”

It may therefore come as a disappointing shock to Sadiq and Angie that this morning the Electoral Commission released a statement confirming the May elections were “well-run”, and that “Concerns about Covid-19 did not stop voters from taking part”. There wasn’t even a decline in turnout compared to previous years…

“The evidence shows that changes put in place by the UK’s governments, the Commission and electoral administrators helped to support and reassure voters and campaigners. People were confident that they could vote safely at the elections, and the overwhelming majority were able to vote using their preferred method.”

Perhaps Sadiq will now face up to the fact that the reason people didn’t vote for him in the numbers expected was his disappointing four years in City Hall, not Covid…